China has announced that the premier will not brief the media at the end of this year's annual parliamentary meeting, effectively ending decades of tradition and closing one of the few access opportunities to the country's top leadership, Nikkei reported.

The news was announced by spokesperson Lou Qinjian on Monday (Mar. 4), ahead of the country's National People's Congress (NPC) which began on Tuesday (Mar. 5) in Beijing.

China's Premier Li Qiang will also not hold a news conference for the remaining terms of China's parliament ending in 2027, Reuters reported, citing Lou.

Most widely-followed event

Reuters described the annual post-parliament press conference as one of the "most widely-followed events on [China's] economic and policy calendar".

Since 1993, the Chinese premier would meet local and foreign reporters on the final day of the NPC and answer wide-ranging questions in news conferences broadcast live globally.

The premier is the country's head of the State Council and the main person responsible for managing the economy.

While the annual post-parliament press conference was stage-managed, it is one of the few chances that allow foreign journalists to interact directly with China's top leadership and gauge their thinking.

The news conference also gave foreign investors and governments a glimpse into how Chinese lawmakers regard the challenges of managing its economy.

From the 1990s and through the 2000s, China proactively worked to develop its policies in an attempt to appeal to foreign investors and boost trade.

According to Lou, the premier's press conference was cancelled as there would be more briefings by government ministers during the week-long NPC parliamentary meeting.

The eighth premier

Li Qiang was introduced as China's eighth premier at last year's NPC, taking over the late Li Keqiang.

Li made his debut media briefing in the same session, where he emphasised the importance for China to be more self-reliant and attempted to dispel concerns over the country's growth momentum.

A Beijing-based political science scholar told Nikkei that he was not surprised by the scrapping of the annual news conference.

He said that the change might signal a power decline of the State Council, one of the main organisation bodies the premier oversees.

Disappointing performance

"Over the past year, [Li's] performance, particularly in the economic area, has been disappointing, making it difficult for him to handle even prearranged questions," the scholar said, as quoted by Nikkei.

He also observed that President Xi Jinping has not called for the third plenum, a plenary session in China's political cycle where economic reforms are normally approved, adding that there might be a lack of consensus on the budget allocation for the year.

This would further make the news conference difficult for Li.

The cancellation of the press conference does not mean that Xi distrusts Li, Wen Ti Sung, a political scientist from the Australian National University told Reuters.

"This is consistent with their relations with Xi playing policy architect and Li playing Xi's faithful policy implementer... willingly stepping away from the limelight is an act of loyalty," said Sung.

Top image via Sapphire/Getty Images.